AARON ROYLE COMES OF AGE AGAINST THE BEST IN THE WORLD IN MADRID

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Triathlon Australia, June 3, 2013: Australia’s rising triathlon star Aaron Royle came of age in the hills around Madrid’s Casa de Campo overnight after mixing it with the best in the world.

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The 23-year-old who has his sights set on the 2016 Olympics in Rio, finished eighth behind defending ITU World Champion Jonathan Brownlee (GBR), former World Champion Javier Gomez (ESP) and Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) in a gruelling fourth round of the prestigious ITU World Triathlon Championship.

The result leaves the reigning Under 23 world champion in ninth place on the current ITU rankings and very much atones for the disappointment of the flat tire that ended his race in San Diego.

Ironically the Casa de Campo course could well be the triathlon course for the 2020 Olympics as the Spanish city bids to host the Games for the first time since Barcelona in 1992.

The Wollongong-based Royle who grew up in Newcastle dreaming of one day wearing the green and gold at an Olympic Games showed the grit determination which may well set him on his way – giving the race everything he had.

Royle posted on twitter after the race: “That was hard….I tried for a podium and blew apart in the last 3km…..the tank is absolutely empty.”

To his credit he did give himself every chance with an outstanding swim to exit the water in 14th placed and an excellent transition to ensure he was in touch with the leaders on the first stages of the bike.

At one stage it was Brownlee and Gomez who welcomed the company of Royle, Vasiliev and Italy’s Alessandro Fabian as they looked over their shoulder, inviting the trio to join them on the tough 40 kilometre bike course.

Royle rode shoulder to shoulder with two of the super stars of the sport in Brownlee (GBR) and Gomez (ESP) for a gruelling eight laps on the bike which included a tough climb in a break through performance, which will earn him enormous respect.

His Australian team mates Ryan Fisher, in his WTC debut season, finished an encouraging 17th (and sits 44th overall); Cameron Good was 32nd (and is in 16th) while Ryan Bailie was 34th (and is in 13th).

“It was a coming of age for Aaron today to mix it with the big boys for as long as he could,” said Triathlon Australia’s High Performance Director Bernard Savage.

“One of the sport’s most respected commentators Barry Shepley said he thought Aaron was the ‘real deal’ and it is hard to argue with him.

“He swam brilliantly and showed why you have to be on the pace out of the water or the boys like Brownlee and Gomez will be up the road.

“Aaron and coach Jamie Turner probably would have liked to have held his fifth or sixth position but in hindsight to see the calibre of runners who came past him with a lot more in the legs was not to be sneezed at.

“He did a great job and has set himself up for what can only be an exciting back half of the season in Kitzbuhel, Hamburg, Stockholm and London.

“It was also a pleasing result for Ryan Fisher off his World Cup race to hang in against some of the sport’s biggest names and there is no doubt that the likes of Cameron Good and Ryan Bailie have to realise they have to stay out of trouble in that swim.

“It was pretty rough around those tight buoy turns and I’m sure there were some lessons learnt.”

Through the first 20km some experts may have been waiting for Royle to drop off the pace as a group of five – Royle, Brownlee, Gomez, Vasiliev and Fabian continued to extend their lead ahead of the two chase packs.

The determined Royle, who sleeps in a high altitude tent, certainly earnt his stripes taking his turns at the front as the five worked together leading into the 10km run were greeted at the top of the climbs by hundreds of fans who lined the streets.

Brownlee, not only the defending ITU World champion but the Olympic bronze medallist and Gomez, the former two-time ITU World Champion and Olympic silver medallist, dictated terms throughout as Royle stayed in touch until T2.

It was the signal for Brownlee to step on the gas and steal the race on the first of the four 2.5km run laps and to ensure that the Brownlee name stayed on the Madrid trophy for the fifth straight year.

But for Royle it was a case of trying to hang on as the race started to unfold ahead of him and behind him with a host of the sport’s best runners building their charge.
After lap one, Vasiliev had a slight five second gap over Royle and Fabian and ran strongly to hold on to that and to claim his first career series podium.

But it was Spain’s Mario Mola who put in the run of the day though, a stunning 30 minutes and 12 seconds, to almost catch Vasiliev in the final kilometre, as he overtook Royle and Fabian to finish fourth.

Fabian claimed fifth - the second consecutive year he’s claimed fifth in Madrid, while South African Richard Murray put in another killer run leg to finish sixth.

Brownlee‘s season might only be two races in, but the reigning Champion showed his title defence was back on track with another stunning performance.

After making a brilliant return from an ankle injury in Yokohama last month, Brownlee was again in the lead from almost start to finish to win his second consecutive race in the 2013 ITU World Triathlon Series season.

It was also his second consecutive win in Madrid as well as keeps the race title in the Brownlee family.

Since the series started in 2009 only Jonathan and brother, Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee (who missed the race with an ankle injury) have topped the podium in the Casa de Campo park.

Brownlee was in the lead group out of the water before driving the pace in a five-man breakaway for the 40km bike leg. They left T2 with over a minute and a half on the rest of the field and within the first few hundred metres Brownlee strode to the front and made it clear he was the one to beat. He had put 16 seconds on Spain’s on the first lap alone, before going on to claim his sixth ITU World Triathlon Series win by 50 seconds in a time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 42 seconds.

However an interesting battle behind Brownlee and Gomez was also playing out, for the final podium place. After lap one, Vasiliev had a slight five second gap over Royle and Fabian and ran strongly to hold on to that and to claim his first career series podium.

The high sun and challenging hill did nothing to slow the fast five, with the group increasing their lead on each lap. Behind them two chase groups became one on the fifth lap and with more than 30 athletes together the paced slowed significantly from that time. With two laps to go, they enjoyed one minute and 27 second lead on the massive chase group.

After destroying the final few bike laps for a near two minutes advantage, Jonathan headed out of transition first, followed tightly by Gomez. As he is known to do, Jonathan blistered through to the first turn to move ahead of Gomez by nine seconds. That gap increased each lap as Jonathan pulled away to the win.

Gomez’s performance was enough for him to take the overall series lead, with four races now completed in the 2013 season.

“It’s a good triathlon course this one, as I keep saying it’s a pure triathlon course,” Brownlee said. “Our group was incredible there, all the other riders did turns throughout the race and it was a fair race I think, so I enjoyed it but it was tough, it’s always tough.”

The day started under blue skies and there were no surprises on the non-wetsuit swim.

The always strong Ivan Vasiliev (RUS), who finished just outside of the podium in Madrid last year on his way to securing an Olympic spot, was determined to put himself in a top position before heading for the tough bike course. He did just that, followed by his teammate Igor Polyanskiy, younger brother Denis Vasiliev (RUS), Richard Varga (SVK), Gomez (ESP) and Brownlee (GBR).

Brownlee’s pre-race plan to push the swim pace and break away with a small group on the bike played out perfectly. Together, with and Royle the group quickly hammered up the first hill for a sizeable advantage. The speed proved too much for Varga and Denis Vasiliev dropping back early in the bike, while top five forged ahead.

Elite Men Top 10 Madrid

1., Jonathan Brownlee, GBR, , 01:50:42
2., Javier Gomez, ESP, , 01:51:32
3., Ivan Vasiliev, RUS, , 01:52:02
4., Mario Mola, ESP, , 01:52:12
5., Alessandro Fabian, ITA, , 01:52:19
6., Richard Murray, RSA, , 01:52:27
7., Laurent Vidal, FRA, , 01:52:32
8., Aaron Royle, AUS, , 01:52:42
9., Joao Pereira, POR, , 01:52:48
10., Franz Loeschke, GER, , 01:53:11
View Full Results >>

Overall Rankings Men

1., Javier Gomez, ESP, , 2744
2., Joao Silva, POR, , 2055
3., Mario Mola, ESP, , 1959
4., Richard Murray, RSA, , 1868
5., Ivan Vasiliev, RUS, , 1814
6., Jonathan Brownlee, GBR, , 1600
7., Laurent Vidal, FRA, , 1403
8., David McNamee, GBR, , 1095
9., Aaron Royle, AUS, , 1062
10., Ryan Sissons, NZL, , 1062

View Full Rankings >>

Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia…..

Ian Hanson

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